Afternoon links: Against freeways

Anti-freeway on the radio

NPR’s

Marketplace reports on cities’ interest in removing freeways including a NYC proposal for the FDR Drive we covered recently. (Steven Yates)  (Tip: Steven Yates)

A really long block party

Could you imagine closing I-95 between Washington and Baltimore for a day to host a “block party”?  That’s exactly what the Germans did with a 37 mile stretch of an Autobahn this weekend. (Yahoo! News, Erik W)  (Tip: Erik W)

Google deletes a freeway

Google Earth contains 3D models of many buildings, but not San Francisco’s Central Freeway. That means it can show you what the area would look like without the elevated highway. (Pedestrianist)

Tear down I-10 in NOLA?

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu thinks it’s “worth thinking about” a proposal to tear down I-10 through the city’s downtown. The freeway demolished a large historic area and divided neighborhoods to speed driving through instead of to the city.  (NOLA.com)

Diets work, on roads

A FHWA study of road diets in California, Washington (state), and Iowa found that they reduce crashes. The ones in California and Washington resulted in a 19% decline, and Iowa’s an astonishing 47%. (Planetizen, Eric Fidler)  (Tip: Eric Fidler)

Let’s prevent ten 9/11s

Matt Yglesias notes that we spend vastly more money on Homeland Security to prevent another 9/11, which killed 3,000 people, than we do to reduce traffic fatalities which kill more than 10 times as many people every single year. And 1/3 of highway deaths involve speeding, which is eminently preventable. (Erik W)  (Tip: Erik W)

Clever subway ads

Flavorwire found some particularly creative subway ads including an IKEA-furnished subway car, barbells or beer cans on poles, a ski lift bench, and a few pretty disgusting ones. (Via
@TrackTwentyNine)